ActionSA’s Dr Nasiphi Moya makes progress, but opposition says service delivery issues persist in the City of Tshwane.
Whether the City of Tshwane has improved under ActionSA mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya’s leadership is a matter of contestation.
ActionSA national chair Michael Beaumont said ActionSA’s visit to the City of Tshwane with Moya confirmed Tshwane was moving forward after a long time.
Beaumont said Moya has made considerable progress in a short period.
Tshwane mayor made ‘considerable progress’ in short period
“In September 2024, ActionSA leadership travelled to areas in the city where residents suffered from long-term, serious service delivery failures – from sewage spills in backyards to communal areas which had become dumping grounds. We returned to these areas to assess the progress made under the leadership of Moya and her coalition team,” he said.
Beaumont went to various sites, including Rietgat sewage treatment works, Makhaza sports ground and Soshanguve reservoir where the city has made some progress in fixing water leaks and stopping illegal dumping.
“Moya and her team continue to tackle difficult work with the humility of knowing how much more needs to be done,” he said.
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However, many opposition councillors did not share his point of view.
DA councillor Shaun Wilkinson has described his ward which covers Waterkloof as one of the suburbs that pays the most rates and taxes, but with the worst service delivery in the whole country.
“The corner of Main and Fehrsen street in Waterkloof is worse than the road that exploded in Johannesburg,” he said.
Water leaks left unattended for 4 weeks
DA councillor Jacqui Uys said she had received complaints of water leaks in her area in Pretoria East, including an underground water leak near Lynnwood Ridge Primary School left unattended for nearly four weeks.
“The province is struggling with the availability of clean drinking water and the city leaves water leaks for months.
“In Stellenberg Road, a leak has been there since last year October while one in Rossouw Street was reported almost six weeks ago.”
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Uys said another problem is that once a leak is fixed, the road surface is often not repaired and roads are undrivable.
Republican Conference of Tshwane councillor Lex Middelberg said while the new government was at least on the right track to fix the city’s multitude of problems and issues, there was no major change so far.
“Nothing underlines the new government’s biggest issues as much as the mid-year finance report and the claims on the back thereof of a much-improved financial situation.
New govt’s biggest issues
“The claim of an improved income stream of about R400 million at the mid-year mark is simply a function of the year’s higher rates and tariffs.
“The real question is how much does this figure exceed municipal consumer price index (CPI)? The answer is it does not when this year is compared to last year with CPI adjusted, there is no real difference between the years,” Middelberg said.
“They also claim to have spent nearly R3 billion less compared to the year before, as if that is a particularly good thing,” he said.
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Middelberg said budgeting more than is needed places an unnecessary burden on ratepayers.
“The alternative is worse. If you spend less the government is not rendering services and neglecting the city’s upkeep.
“Judging by the lack of upkeep over the last six months, this is the more likely scenario.”
